Pasta Recipe Containing ‘Salt And Freshly Ground Black People’

As book publishers, the gang at disinformation® understand typos happen to everyone, but this one wins a prize for Penguin Australia: their Pasta Bible contains a recipe calling for “salt and freshly ground black people.” What clinches the prize for Penguin is it’s executive’s statement that “why anyone would be offended, we don’t know” (via the Sydney Morning Herald):

Penguin Group Australia turns over $120 million a year from printing words but a one-word misprint has cost it dearly.

The publishing company was forced to pulp and reprint 7000 copies of Pasta Bible last week after a recipe called for ”salt and freshly ground black people” – instead of pepper – to be added to the spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto.

The exercise will cost Penguin $20,000, the head of publishing, Bob Sessions, said. At $3300 a letter, it’s a pricey typo.

Stock will not be recalled from bookshops because it would be ”extremely hard” to do so, Mr Sessions said. Copies remained on the shelves in city bookshops yesterday, selling for $20.

Mr Sessions could not understand why some readers had found the slip offensive.

”We’re mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don’t know,” he said…